Southern Westchester Food & Wine Festival Kicks Off September 22

Scarsdale Village in Westchester County, N.Y., will be the host of this year's annual Southern Westchester Food & Wine Festival (SoWe), taking place on Sunday, Sept. 22. This outdoor culinary event aims to showcase some of the region's top food and wine, with samples from local restaurants, caterers, bakeries, and wines from more than 20 different areas of Southern Westchester County.

Rich Baumer, leading member of the SoWe Festival committee, says that Westchester is the "ideal location for a food and wine festival," mentioning that the region is the home of Zachys Wine & Liquor, Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, and a number of culinary schools.

"We are offering a unique food adventure in one of the nation's top culinary destinations, with the opportunity to taste over 200 world-class wines, craft brewed beers, listen to live music, see celebrity chef demonstrations, enjoy healthy kids activities and more," Baumer says.

Besides bringing out gourmet offerings to its visitors, the thought behind the festival is to create awareness and raise money to fight hunger, obesity, and malnutrition. Some of the charities highlighted at the festival are Food Bank for Westchester, WhyHunger, the Don Bosco Community Center, and Greyston Bakery.

The SoWe Festival is free of admission, but for those who want to taste more, food sample tickets are sold both in advance and at the event. The tickets are priced at $4 per tasting, with a minimum purchase of 10 tickets ($40). For the adults, a wine and beer sampling ticket goes for $20, and gives access to samples from all the wineries and breweries at the festival. 

While pleasing their taste buds, guests can also enjoy live music, children's activities, information on healthy eating, and cooking demonstrations from renowned chefs including David Burke, Rafael Palomino, Ken Arnone.

The completely tented outdoor event will take place rain or shine, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Read all our coverage of the festival and visit the SoWe Festival homepage for more info.